I'll never let you down
by SinktotheBeat
Summary: A fluffy story about Helga and Arnold. After graduating high school they attend their last party together. Will Helga get up the courage to finally tell her big secret?
1. Chapter 1

The sun was setting over the ocean on a cool breezy night. A young woman stood on the beach watching the spectacular view unfold on the horizon, as she stood and waited. She had long blond hair that had become wavy due to the beach air and she wore a glittery long flowing dress that sparkled in the sunset. She kept looking around the beach as if waiting for someone to show up but it was deserted. As the sun finally began to dip below the ocean she looked around one last time and with a heavy sigh she started walking back to civilization. Then she heard something, someone was calling her name from a distance. She turned toward the noise and saw a tiny figure of what looked like a man wearing a tuxedo, with messy blond hair, and a football shaped head running toward her yelling "Helga, Helga wait!" He came, her love Arnold came, she knew he would never abandon her at this lonely beach. "Helga" he said out of breathe as he finally caught up to her. He grabbed her hand. She blushed at his touch.

"Helga I'm so sorry I kept you waiting for so long" he said looking at her with truly apologetic eyes. She held on to his hand tight.

"It's ok Arnold, I know you had something to ask me so I didn't mind waiting for you" she said as she gripped even tighter. "So what was it you wanted to ask me?" she asked.

He bent down on one knee "I wanted to say that I have loved you since I first day I laid my eyes upon your beautiful face, and I wanted to ask for your hand in marriage, so that we could live together forever, what do you say?"

She could not find the words to express how unbelievably happy she felt. How to tell him that he was making all her dreams come true, that he was always her one true love. She had to say something. When she opened her mouth to say YES YES YES, all that came out was a knocking sound. Arnold looked confused.

"Helga I need to know if you want to be my wife forever and always" he said standing up to look her directly in the eyes.

She smiled. And opened up her mouth again to speak but just let out the same knocking sound. He took a step back then he said "Helga get the door!" She looked at him confused and the vision all went fuzzy.

"Helga your little friend Phoebe is here, and next time you answer the door!" Her shouted dad from downstairs "Ok" she yelled back. Sheesh never a moment's peace in the Patacki house. She sat up and yawned in bed still sleepy, she thought about her wonderful dream and started drifting back into it when there was a knock at her door.

"Helga it's me Phoebe can I come in?" she asked politely.

"Ya Pheebs just get in here" she replied angrily. Phoebe pushed the door open, walked into the room and stopped.

"Helga what are you doing?" she gasped. Looking at Helga sitting in bed

"Rhonda's graduation party is in 2 hours and you're not getting ready yet?"

"So I'm getting ready now! I needed some sleep after studying for finals for 3 nights straight" she said with a yawn. Phoebe walked over and sat on the edge of her bed

"Well if you followed my study plan I made for you, you would have had 3 weeks to study instead of cramming everything into 3 nights" she said a little annoyed.

"Ya well I did it didn't I? And now we never have to go back to that High school ever again! No more tests, no more homework, no more stupid dances" she said excitedly.

"Well until fall when you go to college" said Phoebe.

"Oh yea. Well at least college will be far away from here, and away from all the people we have gone to school with forever. I never have to see those losers again!" she said happily.

"Well except for tonight at Rhonda's party" said Phoebe.

"Ok Phoebe geez, but after tonight I'm done, sayonara suckers" She yelled.

"What about Arnold?" asked Phoebe? Helga turned and looked at phoebe a little surprised.

"What about him?" she asked through her teeth.

"Helga you have secretly harbored romantic feelings for him for 15 years. Don't you think you owe it to him and to yourself to let him know how you have felt after all the years? You wrote him that letter a few years ago I think now would be the perfect opportunity to give it to him" said phoebe innocently.

"What do you want me to do Phoebe just waltz up to Arnold and say hey Arnold how's it going? Oh by the way I have loved you for past 15 years, I have worshipped your every step and move, I have volumes of poetry inspired by you, you are my muse, my football headed love god, here's a letter describing it in detail let me know what you think?"

"Well …yes"

Helga laughed as just looked on and phoebe sighed.

"Good one Pheebs, like that will ever happen" laughed Helga as she got out of bed and walked toward the bathroom.

"Helga just think about it" Helga stopped and looked at her "He's going off to college too, all way on the other side of the country. If you don't let him know now he may never find out and you will regret it" she pleaded.

"Phoebe just drop it, I don't want to talk about this anymore" she said as she turned around and headed toward the bathroom again.

"But Helga if you should just..."

She slammed the bathroom door behind her shutting up her friend. Helga walked over to the sink turned on the faucet and splashed some cold water on her face. She looked up into the mirror and just stared. She stared at her reflection. Her face had not changed much since she was in 4th grade. Sure she looked older but she still had the same old blond hair, only she wore it down and loose. She stopped wearing her hair in pigtails in 8th grade when Arnold had mentioned he liked the way girl's hair looked when it was down. She had also grown taller about 5'7, and she got a few curves after puberty hit but other than that nothing else had really changed. She still had the same big eyes, button nose and one big eyebrow.

"Well Helga old girl this is it, this is as good as it's going to get" she whispered to herself as she turned away from the mirror to turn on the shower.

As she lathered up she couldn't help but think of the letter she had written to Arnold. It was freshman year of high school and her parents were toying with the idea of sending her to live with her sister in Alaska.

"It's time to grow up and open your eyes" her dad said. "Olga will show you how to act like an adult".

So when it looked like she was defiantly going to move she had to let Arnold know how she felt, but every time she tried to tell him she would just yell and scream at him instead. So phoebe suggested writing a letter she said

"A letter will accurately convey how you feel without you changing your mind."

So after 34 drafts and many sleepless nights she had finally completed the perfect love letter to Arnold. She hesitated on giving it to him until the day before she was supposed to leave only to discover that her sister was moving back home because she was offered a job as lead concert pianist in the city orchestra. So she decided she would give him the letter the next day at school since she was no longer moving. Only the next day little miss perfect Lila had finally realized that she liked Arnold, she liked him liked him, and let him and everyone know during lunch in front of the whole cafeteria. They had been dating ever since. Which obviously put a damper on any future plans of love note giving, and she held on to it ever since.

There was a knock at the door "Helga you only have an hour so you better hurry up" Phoebe called to her.

"OK!" She shouted back at her. As she stepped out of the shower to dry off.

"I don't know why you want to go to this stupid party anyway" she mumbled to herself. "It's not like Arnold will even know you there with stupid little miss perfect attached to his face."

She opened the bathroom door wrapped in a towel to Phoebe holding up a bunch of dresses on hangers.

"What are those?"

"Dresses"

"Doi, Phoebe I mean what are you doing with them?"

"I thought since this was the last high school party ever you would want to maybe dress-up a little" said Phoebe with a big pleading smile.

"Phoebe, why would I want to do that?"

"Because it's the last time you will see any of these people and maybe you would want to blow them away by looking incredible, and maybe you would want to dress up for Arnold." She said sweetly.

"Phoebe there is no point, Arnold is never going to notice me over that stupid perfect little miss goody goody he's dating, I could wear Flamingo costume with flashing lights that say notice me Arnold while shaking maracas in his face and he still would not care, not while Lila's there."

"Oh Helga you didn't hear" said Phoebe surprised.

"Hear what?"

"Arnold dumped Lila after the graduation ceremony today!"

"WHAT!!" she screamed

She grabbed Phoebe by the shoulders and shook her

"Why didn't you say anything!!"

"I thought you knew, that's why I asked you about him and the letter"

Helga let go of her and sat down on the floor, flabbergasted.

"Why did he do it?"

"Well the story I got from Gerald is that she was caught kissing Iggy under the bleachers last Friday night. She tried to apologize but he said that he couldn't trust her anymore and that you couldn't have a good relationship without trust."

Helga started laughing hysterically, Phoebe looked at her uncomfortably

"Helga are you ok?" she asked

"Phoebe this is perfect" she said in between giggles "I can finally tell him, tonight. Tonight is the night I finally tell Arnold how I feel. I will tell him how I feel and then we can get married and travel the world in our own little love balloon." She said starry eyed.

"Whoa Helga baby steps, lets worry about what you should wear to this party tonight then we will deal with how to tell him how you feel" said phoebe as she pulled out some dresses out from her dress bag to show her.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

Chapter 2:

Arnold lay back on his bed thinking about the afternoon he had just had. The excitement of graduation and finally being done with high school, breaking up with his girlfriend of three years after catching her making out with someone else, and the future in general. He sighed and rolled over on to his side staring at his room. His room had looked exactly the same since elementary school it just all seemed smaller now because he was so much bigger. He grew out of his short scrawny phase, to be about 5'10 with broad shoulders. He still had his old messy blond hair and football shaped head, which he kind of grew into, but he no longer wore the blue hat or the plaid shirt sweater combo. Today he was wearing a plain white t-shirt and dark blue sweat pants and staring out into space. Just wondering if he had made the right choices for his future or if he would regret them when his cell phone rang. He picked it up off the shelf next to him and flipped it open

"Hello?"

"Hey Arnold, what's up? What are you doing?"

"Oh nothing Gerald, just thinking"

"Thinking! Why are you doing that school is over man. It's time to relax, time to party!"

"No thanks Gerald, I don't want to go anywhere I was just planning to spend tonight home with my grandparents. I think they are throwing some sort of graduation party downstairs"

"Arnold this is the last party of our high school careers, there will be tons of single attractive girls at this party, man you have to come"

"I don't think I should"

"Are you still hung up on Lila? I know you two went together for three years but man, she cheated on you, you said yourself you are way better off without her. The best way to get over a cheating girlfriend is to come and party with your best friend, classmates and make-out with some pretty girls."

"Thanks for the advice, but I think I will just sit this one out."

"Ok suit yourself, I'm going to pick up Phoebe and Helga right now and then we are heading over"

"Oh well say hi for me"

"You could say hi yourself"

"Gerald I already told…

"Ya ya ya your keeping your sorry ass home, well if you change you mind and you should the party's at Rhonda's place."

"Ok thanks Gerald I'll talk to you later"

"Peace out A-dawg"

Arnold flipped his phone shut and dropped it on the ground next to his bed. He turned to lay flat on his back and looked out the glass window roof at the setting sun. He remembered watching the sunsets on the roof with Lila. How she used to make a picnic dinner for them and they would share stories and talk about their dreams and ambitions. He missed those days when his life seemed so simple, when he could care about someone not have to worry about trusting them. When he didn't have to worry about moving far away from the only home and people he has ever known or loved, to go to school somewhere he wasn't even sure he wanted to go to. He closed his eyes and thought about fourth grade when all he had to worry about was how to help his friends out of sticky situations. He smiled at the thought of his friends. They had all been to school together for the past 12 years and now they were all moving on to different things and places. He might not even see some of them again. He let out a heavy sigh as he stood up, ran a hand through his messing hair and headed downstairs to see what his grandparents were up to.

The whole downstairs was dark so as he hit the last step he flipped the light switch and heard

"SURPRISE"

There his grandparents and all the boarders stood under a blue banner with gold writing that read "Congrats Grad!" on it. Everyone had on a different color party hat and some sort of noise maker in their hands, and on the table next to them was a cake with chocolate frosting and a small pile of gifts.

"Whoa, you guys didn't have to do this" he said catching his breathe after the initial scare.

"Of course we did short-man it's not everyday you graduate from high school, besides it's a good excuse to get presents he he" his grandpa nudged him with his elbow.

"Ya well thank you guys" he said rubbing his side from where grandpa elbowed him.

"Happy St. Patrick's Day O'Keefe" his grandma yelled before giving him a fake pot of gold. "May the luck of the Irish be with you"

"Thanks Grandma" he said putting the fake gold on the table by the rest of the gifts.

"Pookey I told you it's Arnold graduation party not St. Patrick's Day" grandpa said annoyed as she danced an Irish jig on the piano in the corner.

"You should open your presents Arnold, here open mine first" said Ernie. The short stout man lifted a medium size box wrapped in diploma paper off the table and handed it to Arnold.

"Thanks Mr. Potts but you really didn't have to" he said as he began to unwrap the present.

"Don't worry about it I wanted to" Ernie said eagerly awaiting the opening of his present.

As Arnold finished unwrapping and opening the box he pulled out a roll of quarters and a large green duffle bag.

"Um…Thanks Mr. Potts" he said looking at his gift a little confused.

"Arnold it's for doing laundry, the bag is to stick all your dirty clothes in and the quarters are so you can pay to start the machines. I thought it might come in handy since you'll be a poor starving college student needing clean clothes" he said smiling.

"Oh" Arnold said looking a little disappointed "ya laundry great, I forgot that I would have to pay to use the machines" he put the duffle bag and the roll of coins back in the box and put it under the table.

"Ok Arnold mine's next" said grandpa as he took the large box wrapped in plain blue paper and handed it to Arnold "Oh your gonna love this" he said smiling.

Arnold looked at him and forced a smile. He unwrapped the present to find his grandpa had given him a boom box.

"Grandpa thank you but I have a stereo upstairs, I don't really need a boom box" he said awkwardly.

"Oh Arnold you can't take that big stereo with you to school, how would you fit it in the car with all your other stuff? No it has to stay here" grandpa said a little concerned.

"Oh yea I forgot about that, well thanks" he said putting the boom box with the other present under the table.

Mr. Hyunh was walking over to the table to get his present when Arnold stood up

"Thank you guys so much for this party and the presents but I'm really tired after today and I just want to go to sleep" he said while looking upon everyone's disappointed faces.

"Ok Arnold" grandpa said "we'll just see you in the morning then" and he watched along with the other boarders as Arnold walked up the stairs.

He walked into his room and shut the door hard.

"Gah what is with everyone the last thing I want to think about is college, I just finished High school today for crying out loud. I just want to go somewhere where I don't have to think" he grunted.

He stood there breathing heavily for a few moments when all of a sudden his eyes got wide and he ran over to his cell phone on the ground. He picked it up sat on his bed, flipped it open and dialed.

"Hey Gerald"

"Hey man what's crackin"

"I changed my mind; I'm coming to the party"

"I knew you would, we just got here. There is not that many people here yet so you can still get here before the party gets really heavy"

"Cool, I'll be there in a half hour, oh and Gerald do you see Lila there yet"

"No I haven't seen her but like I said we just got here, so I'll let you know when I do"

"Thanks Gerald I'll see you in a few"

"Peace out"

He flipped his phone shut and went over to his closet to get dressed for the party. He picked out a black and white striped t-shirt a black hoodie and a pair of dark wash jeans. He spent a couple of minutes trying to fix his hair with a brush and some gel but was unsuccessful, so he just left it as it was. He snuck downstairs quietly past his grandparents and the boarders cleaning up the party to avoid any prying questions, and out the door to his car.


	3. Chapter 3

"Helga come on Gerald is going to be here any second" Phoebe said tapping her foot next to the closet in which Helga was changing.

"Alright Phoebe, it's not my fault these stupid dresses are so tight. It takes forever to get in and out of these things" she said finally pulling the strap of the dress up on her shoulder. "I think these dresses were a bust Phoebe, they all looked bad on me"

"No they didn't, what about the brown one with the fringe?" she asked sweetly

"Phoebe, I really don't think dressing like I'm going on down to the rodeo to rope some cattle, is the look that will blow everyone away" she said angrily.

There was a knock at the door.

"Hey Phoebe would you get that, since I can't move at the moment"

Phoebe went and answered the door to Gerald. He was wearing a large royal blue hoodie over a plain white t-shirt, and black pants with high top converse. He stepped into the room and immediately gave Phoebe a hug and a peck on the cheek, she giggled and blushed.

"Geez you guys get a room"

"Ok Helga can we borrow yours?" Gerald asked jokingly

"Don't make me barf Geraldo"

"Phoebe why is Helga in the closet?" Gerald asked Phoebe as he sat down on the bed checking his watch.

"Helga is trying on some of my party dresses to wear to the party tonight"

"Helga! Party dresses! HA!" Gerald said laughing, while Phoebe gave him the evil eye.

Helga pushed open the door of the closet loud enough to make Gerald and Phoebe jump. She stood there in a sheer red low cut dress that hit her right at the knee. The dress almost sparkled as she took a few steps forward pointing her finger a Gerald.

"Don't make kill you Geraldo, we just graduated so I'm sure you would like to see your freshman year of college" she yelled.

Phoebe and Gerald just sat there with their mouths open and their eyes wide. Helga looked at both of them

"What the heck are you staring at?" she confused and angry

"Helga…."Gerald trailed off

"Helga you look stunning, you have to wear that dress to the party. That is definitely the dress that will blow everyone away" she said admiring her friend.

Helga turned and looked into the mirror hanging on the inside of her closet door. She opened her eyes a little wider as well she couldn't believe that one dress could make her look like such a babe. She spun around.

"Wow this dress really does look awesome, man who knew" she said happily, still staring at herself.

"Well ladies as fun as its been we should probably get going, we don't want to miss the party, and I definitely don't want to miss everyone's face when we walk into the party and see Helga in that dress" said Gerald as he got up and walked toward the door. "I'll wait you guys in the car" and he walked out of the room. Helga spun around one more time in front of the mirror before shutting her closet door and put on her black mary-janes with heels.

"Now Helga don't forget about the letter" said Phoebe sternly as Helga made her way to her bed.

"Ya ya I got it" she grabbed an envelope from a box under her bed and stuffed it in the little red purse that came with the dress. "Besides when Arnold takes one look at me in this dress he will forget all about little miss cheater Lila, and fall right into my arms" she said cackling.

"Do you know what you are going to say when you give him the letter?" Phoebe asked

"NO, I'm just going to wing it." She said as they walked out of the house and got into Gerald's car. Phoebe turned around from the passenger seat and looked at Helga.

"Helga perhaps you better rehearse something, so you don't…you know yell at him" she said quietly as Helga rolled her eyes at her.

"Who is Helga going to yell at now, at least it won't be Arnold this time" Gerald said as he started the car and they drove off. Phoebe and Helga looked at each other and then at Gerald.

"What do you mean?" Phoebe asked

"Arnolds not coming, I talked to him just before I got you guys. Poor guy is all in the dumps because of Lila, I told him to forget about it and come have a good time but he wouldn't listen" he said as he turned a sharp left turn.

Helga sat there silently looking at her shoes and holding tight to the bag that held the letter she so badly wanted to give Arnold but couldn't once again. Phoebe looked back at her sympathetically but said nothing. Great she thought to herself, the one reason for going to this stupid party and he is not even going to be there. She looked out the window trying to figure a way to get out of going when they arrived at Rhonda's mansion. There were cars lined up and down both sides of the street for miles, luckily Gerald knew a good alley to park down that was only two blocks away. As they walked up to the house all Helga could think about was how to get as far away from here as possible and maybe find Arnold in the process when Phoebe grabbed her arm

"Helga? Are you ok?" she asked concerned

She snapped back to reality "Oh ya fine Pheebs whatever"

When they went in the front door the big fancy stereo was blasting some god awful techno next to a big table full of snacks and drinks that a couple of kids were hanging around. All the furniture was pushed to the sides of the room to make room for a dance floor that no one was taking advantage of just yet. They walked into the room and sat down on a couch pushed next to the fire place, Helga kept her legs together very aware that she was wearing a dress and folded her arms uncomfortably.

"Phoebe, Gerald...Helga!" they heard. It was Rhonda. She was wearing a blue tube dress with her hair all put up. "Helga, you look well pretty, is that a Cavalli?" she asked

"Um it's a dress" Helga said looking at her confused

"Yes Helga dear I know it's a dress but..." she could tell by the look in Helga's eyes that she wasn't getting anywhere "oh never mind, I'm so glad you guys came! Can you believe it high school is finally over, I'm so excited to go study in Paris at the French school of fashion this fall!" she exclaimed. They all looked at her with disdain. "Oh Gerald do you know if Arnold is coming, I heard about him and Lila splitting up and I have the perfect girl to set him up with"

"NO Rhonda! Arnolds not coming! He would rather sit at home and watch Dawson's creek reruns while eating tubs of ice cream than be here!" Helga said looking away; they all looked at her strangely.

"Um yea Arnold wasn't feeling to well, he said he was sorry that he couldn't make it" Gerald said

"Oh well that's just a shame, that poor boy. Well have fun and I'll see you guys later" said Rhonda as she went off to greet more of her arriving guests.

"I'm going to go get some punch do you guys want anything" asked Gerald

"Oh some punch would be wonderful Gerald, thank you" said Phoebe smiling

"Helga?"

"Oh yea sure whatever" she said waving her hand

"Ok I'll be back" he said as he walked over to the snack table where the punch bowl was located

"Phoebe you got to help me get out of here!" Helga said grabbing Phoebe's arm

"What do you mean, we just got here?" she said trying to release Helga's iron grasp

"Phoebe! Arnolds not coming I don't want to stay here with all these losers talking about how great high school was and how their going to miss the good old days on the pep squad. I need a plan so start thinking" she said desperately

"Helga don't you think you could just stay for a couple hours and enjoy the party minus Arnold?" she asked

The look on Helga's face told her the answer to her question was NO!

"Ok ok, you could fake getting dizzy and say you need to go home to lie down" said Phoebe

"No Phoebe think bigger, Rhonda will just say I could lie down here"

"Oh… well you could say your getting the flu and that you have to go to the doctor"

"Phoebe I can't just get the flu out of nowhere, honestly where do you come up with this stuff, now think more realistic" she said condescendingly.

Phoebe thought for a moment "You could say you forgot it was your turn to volunteer at the orphanage soup kitchen, and if you don't go there will be no one there to make the food and all the kids will go hungry and starve and die!"

Helga stared at her "Phoebe! That's perfect. Orphan's that priceless" she said smiling

Gerald came walking back over to them with two drinks in his hands and the phone pushed against his ear with help from his left shoulder. ""No I haven't seen her but like I said we just got here, so I'll let you know when I do" He handed one of the drinks to Phoebe and smiled "peace out" and he hung up the phone and took a drink.

"Who was that Gerald your psychic" asked Helga jokingly

"No that was Arnold, I guess he had enough of sulking and decided to come to the party" he said in between sips.

Helga jumped up and knocked the drink out of Phoebe's hand. "Yes! Oh sorry Pheebs, I'll go get you another one." She said as she walked over to the snack table smiling to herself as she thought tonight is finally going to be the night, the night I have played over and over again in my dreams, the night I tell Arnold how I feel. There two boys in front of the punch bowl laughing and one of them shoved something small and shiny into his pants pocket but Helga thought nothing of it.

"Move or lose it, I need to get to the punch" she said pushing them aside

"Hey watch it….Helga, Helga Patacki?" one of the boys asked sounding surprised

"Depends who's asking?" she glaring at them

"It's me Tim, I sat behind you in English, I have say wow I wish you looked like this all year, you look hot" he said staring her up and down

She rolled her eyes "Oh yea you weren't you that guy who went up to the white board write an answer and let a huge fart rip?" she asked innocently

"Um, I don't think that was me" he said embarrassed

"Ya ya and it smelled so bad everyone had to leave the classroom, and then the teacher never called on you again for fear of you farting again" she said pouring some punch in a glass

"NO" he said walking away as his friend laughed

"Loser" she mumbled under her breathe. She turned around to go give Phoebe her drink when she bumped into Rhonda.

"Oh Helga, Phoebe just told me all about the poor Orphans, it is so good of you to give your time to such needy people. I totally understand why you have to leave"

"Oh yea the orphans, well the funny thing about that is…all the orphans took a trip…to Dino-land for the day so they don't need my help after all, I can stay all night!" she said trying to sound as convincing as possible.

"Oh ok, well I'll just see you later then, enjoy the punch" said Rhonda walking towards the other room

"Oh for sure bye" she said turning around and making a gagging face

She walked over to Phoebe, gave her the drink and sat down on the couch next to her as she punched her in the arm.

"Ouch" she said rubbing her arm "What was that for?" as Phoebe and Gerald looked at her confused

"For the orphans" she replied

Gerald and Phoebe went back to their conversation about the upcoming city council elections, as Helga's thoughts turned to Arnold. All she could think about was when he was going to get there and what she would say to him.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

Chapter 4:

Arnold turned right down 5th street looking for a place to park. He knew that the street in front of Rhonda's house would be packed like it always was when she threw a party so he decided to park two streets down. After circling the block twice he finally found parking in front of an old looking butcher shop. He threw some money in the meter and walked down the sidewalk in the direction of Rhonda's house. As he turned the corner he could hear the loud bass of the techno music coming from the party. Ugh he thought to himself the horrible musical stylings of Rhonda Lloyd. He never understood why she didn't get bands to play her parties she definitely had the room for it and it would add some life to the music. Unlike the lifeless drone beats of techno she insisted on playing. He finally reached Rhonda's house and walked into the front door. The place was packed wall to wall with kids. He walked into a room in which all the furniture was pushed against the walls to let people sit and make room for a dance floor, where boys and girls were dancing and/or humping. He saw Gerald sitting on one of the couches pushed up near the fireplace where he was talking close to phoebe. Gerald saw him a waved him over.

"Hey Gerald, Hey Phoebe what's up?"

"Hey Arnold we were just enjoying the lovely music and the fine displays of dancing going on here" Phoebe said with a roll of her eyes.

"Yea I could hear the noise Rhonda calls music from two blocks away" Arnold said taking a seat next to Gerald.

"Man she puts on a good party but she will never play good music" said Gerald as he finished off his drink.

"How is the punch?"

"Pretty good, it's been spiked a couple times over so it has a nice tropical rum flavor"

"Does Rhonda know?" asked Arnold wide eyed

"No man are you kidding after what happened at the prom, she would flip if she knew her punch was tainted"

Arnold thought back to the prom after party which was also held at Rhonda's house. Someone spiked her drink, she ended up drunk and making out all night with Curly. A boy who has liked her since 4th grade but whom she despised. The next day she swore never to drink again.

"Arnold you should go get some before Rhonda finds out"

"No thanks, but I think I will go see what kind of fancy food she has, I'm starving" Arnold said getting up "Oh and Gerald if you see Lila…."

"Ya, I'll let you know. Oh and buddy watch out for Rhonda, she heard about you two splitting up and she has some girl she wants to hook you up with" said Gerald nudging him

"Thanks" he said making his way through the people towards the snack table. Geez he thought to himself. I only just broke up with Lila about 5 hours ago and everyone already knows and is trying to match me up with someone else. He just started thinking how it might be nice to get away from the small city where everyone knows him when he reached the snack table. He scanned the gourmet cheese platters, various tarts and humus dips when he bumped into the person next to him

"Oh sorry"

"Watch where your going next….Arnold!?" said Helga looking at him surprised

"Oh sorry Helga I just" Arnold looked at Helga and stopped. He couldn't believe how well beautiful she looked. He had never really seen her in a party dress. "Helga you look really nice"

"Thanks I guess" she said picking up a stuffed mushroom cap and placing it on her paper plate

"No I mean it you look beautiful, is that a new dress?" he asked

"Well no actually…" Helga stopped as Arnold grabbed her by the arms and placed her in front of him.

"What are you doing football head let go of me" she said trying to move out of his grip as Arnold crouched down

"Helga you have to help me hide" he said glancing around her side toward the entrance way

"Hide you from what?" she asked turning and looking where he looking

"Don't look!" he cried tightening his grip on her. She looked down at him disdainfully. "I don't want Rhonda to see me, Gerald told me that she was trying to set me up with some girl and I just don't want to deal with that right now" he said looking up at her with pleading eyes

"Ok fine, I'll hide you, but don't get use to me doing you any favors, football head"

"Oh god she's coming over here" he said crouching down even lower

"Quick go under the table, the tablecloth should hide you well enough" she said holding it up as he crawled under. He sat with his arms around his legs and lowered his head so not to hit it on the table. As soon as Helga dropped the tablecloth he saw Rhonda's shoes appear next to Helga's.

"Helga what are you doing?" Rhonda asked suspiciously

"Oh I just…wanted to see what kind of material these tablecloths were made out of because they're just so pretty" she asked innocently

"Oh well they're made from imported Italian silk, very expensive. I had no idea you had such good taste Helga, you just keep on surprising me tonight"

"That's me never a dull moment here"

"Yes well have you seen Arnold around?" Rhonda asked

"Arnold!?" Helga said shifting her weight from foot to foot. Arnold wiped his brow as he began to sweat.

"Yes Arnold, Sid said he saw him come in and I thought I saw him heading over this way. I need to ask him a question" Rhonda said

"Nope haven't seen him" she said swallowing "I don't think he was coming tonight didn't Gerald say he had the flu. If he is here, think of all the gross germs he is spreading all over your party with his disease" said Helga

"Helga please that's disgusting" Rhonda said

"I'm just saying one minute it's the flu the next you have an outbreak of Ebola at your party. That will ruin anyone's good time" said Helga

"Whatever, if you see Arnold just tell him to find me" Rhonda said walking away

"Sure, it was lovely chatting with you Rhonda darling" said Helga as she backed up toward the end of the table and lifted up the tablecloth "You owe me big time football head" she said as he climbed out from under the table.

"Thank you Helga" he said as he dusted off his arms and legs "I owe you one"

"You owe me more than one try a thousand" she said popping a mushroom cap in her mouth

"Ok Helga whatever you say" he said grabbing another plate and again scanning the food options

"So Arnold…um how are you?" she asked twittering her thumbs awkwardly

"I'm fine aside from my leg being asleep from crouching under a table" he said grabbing some cheese and crackers

"Oh well I was just wondering because Phoebe told me about you and Lila, and I know how much you liked her, and that really sucks what she did, and I guess I'm just trying to say I'm sorry that happened to you" she said looking at him sincerely

He looked at her and smiled "Thanks Helga that is really nice of you to say"

She smiled back "Sure" she said as she looked down at the table and ate another mushroom cap

"Hey Arnold" she said softly

"Yea" he replied grabbing some mushroom caps for himself

"You we have known each other a long time, and we have been through a lot over the years" she said looking at him

"Yea" he said as ate a mushroom cap and looked at her

"I just… I have always you know …" She said stumbling over her words as he looked at her confused "I have this letter and…"

"ARNOLD!!" Gerald came running over and grabbed his arm making him drop some of the food off his plate

"Gerald what's going on" he asked annoyed as he picked up the dropped food

"Lila just walked in" he said pointing at her. All three of them looked at her. She was wearing a light green dress with a white quarter length sleeve sweater on top. She was holding hands with Iggy, who was wearing a plaid yellow top and jeans. They walked into the room and met up with Rhonda who greeted them.

"Arnold lets go outside man" said Gerald leading him out the back

"Good idea" he said following him, when he turned around and looked at Helga "Helga I'm sorry you were saying something can we finish talking later?" he asked

"Sure, whatever" she said picking up another mushroom cap and eating it.

He walked out onto the balcony and sat on a lawn chair beside Gerald.

"Man I cannot believe she came here with him, that is so messed up, how are you holding up?" Gerald asked concerned

"I'm surprising fine" he answered calmly "You know I have been with Lila for so long that I haven't really known anything else, and if she wants to throw all that we had away for Iggy then I guess we weren't really meant to be.You know it just kind of feels ok" he said looking out over the city lights.

"Arnold I don't know how you do it but you can always look on the bright side of things" Gerald said chuckling "and think of all the hot girls you are going to meet in college!"

"Ya, I guess" he said taking a deep breathe and letting it out.


End file.
